The conference looked at the importance of infection control in healthcare institutions and considered ways of focusing more attention on this area. Key speakers at the event, which was staged at <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />London’s Barbican, included Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker and Amsterdam professor Jan Kluytmans MD Phd.
Walker urged healthcare staff to improve patient confidence by visibly practising good hand hygiene on the wards. Meanwhile Professor Kluytmans used the example of Holland - which achieves consistently low rates of MRSA - in his address on how to succeed in infection control.
SCA Tissue Europe’s healthcare consultant Tony O’Sullivan made a plenary speech and held two masterclasses together with product and market manager Jenny Turner. “We were very pleased with the success of Infection Control 08,” said Turner. “We presented to a well informed, knowledgeable audience who were interested in what we had to say.”
The Tork workshops focused on the role played by disposable hand towels in infection control. Studies carried out in Germany have shown that drying the hands with disposable towels reduces bacteria on the hands by an average of 24% compared with only 4% for a textile towel. Warm air dryers can actually increase the bacteria count by 117%.
Tork representatives demonstrated how a high grade hand towel - such as Tork Premium interfold extra soft - absorbs much larger amounts of water than the green C-fold towels once associated with hospitals. This is vitally important for hygiene reasons since damp hands transmit 500 times the amount of bacteria as dry hands.
“As a private sector company we have the expertise and investment that allows us to support the NHS with training as well as cost-effective new products such as our tissue packs,” said Turner. “We were very happy to sponsor the Infection Control 08 conference because we work very well in partnership with the public sector - and with the NHS in particular.”
Web: www.tork.co.uk